


Beacon

by StarrySkies282



Category: Interstellar (2014)
Genre: Amelia brand is smol, Angst, F/M, I can’t tag, I'm Sorry, Joseph x Amelia, Just a thing I wrote, enjoy, this is the product of not sleeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 23:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13088070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarrySkies282/pseuds/StarrySkies282
Summary: Brand.The one word his daughter had uttered, as she lay there in the hospital at Cooper Station.…she sets up camp. Alone on her planet. In a new galaxy, with her new Sun…Joseph goes to find Amelia





	Beacon

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys this is my first fic for the Interstellar fandom so hope you enjoy and tell me how you find it x

Brand.

The one word his daughter had uttered, as she lay there in the hospital at Cooper Station.

_…she sets up camp. Alone on her planet. In a new galaxy, with her new Sun…_

Brand who had been with him until the end. Until that moment…

And it all came rushing back. Mann. The Endurance. Brand. Her pleas. TARS. Gargantua. The Tesseract. Murph—

_…probably getting ready for the long nap…_

He had to get to her. To Edmunds’ planet.

_… where she had buried her once-lover…_

And in that second, he made a decision. He took the newly-repaired TARS and headed to the launch bay. How long had she been there?

Launch—second nature. He looked to his right. Brand should be there, smiling sardonically, commenting on his assholeness or something.

“Cooper, you seem disoriented,” observed TARS from his corner.

“You think? I’ve just woken up in a station on Saturn, discovered I’m 124, seen my daughter who is now older than I am and who will probably be dead before I can get back and am on my way to find the only survivor of our mission who is alone on a planet in another galaxy through a wormhole. So yes, I’m disoriented.”

“Take it easy, Slick.”

“Hmph,” muttered Cooper, returning his attention to the controls. “Right, we’re clear of orbit. TARS… status report?”

“Conditions are stabilised, Cooper. Pressure is optimum. Fuel reserves are ample.”

“Thanks, TARS.”

“Navigation has updated, Cooper. We’re ready.”

“I just hope we get there in time.”

“Have faith, Coop. Amelia is a strong, capable woman. I’m sure she’s fine. A little lonely, perhaps… but she has CASE.”

“TARS, I have faith. It’s just this time business: we leave the Tesseract and Murph’s a young woman, but I wake up later, on Saturn, aged 124 and Murph’s an old woman. Who knows how Brand will be...”

“She’s probably gone into hypersleep, Coop. Be realistic.”

“I am. But you’re a robot.”

***

The remainder of the journey bought Coop to recount what he had just been through. Losing Doyle on Miller’s planet, Romilly being blown up, Mann sent insane, blowing himself into deep space and taking some of the Endurance with him. And then there was leaving Brand and getting sucked into Gargantua. By principle, he shouldn’t be here...

“Hey, Slick, quit daydreaming… Edmunds’ planet is there.”

And sure enough, looming ahead, it was there.

“TARS, see if you can do any scans to find Brand’s location, anything to indicate a life sign so we can land this thing.”

“Roger.”

Cooper stared deadpan ahead as he bought the ship into the atmosphere. He wasn’t sure what he’d find.

“Curse uncertainty!” he cried, tugging viciously at the controls.

“Transmitting data, Cooper.”

“Thanks, TARS.”

***

Brand, he expected, would be in cryosleep, waiting. Waiting for whatever came next: oblivion or salvation.

But no, he was wrong.

As he bought the ship slowly down, hovering, ready for land, he spotted CASE trundling along. He saw the white tent Brand had no doubt constructed. And then, as he was bringing the ship down for landing, sending up a flurry of dust, reminiscent of their old home, he spotted a lone figure, clad in white. Motionless, standing, shielding her eyes from the dust in the russet coloured expanse below.

He almost smiled. Almost.

*

He steps out, onto the surface of Edmunds’ planet. She’s there: a little too thin, a little too worn, much too pale. But she’s there. She’s Brand and that’s what Coop is here for.

He takes off his helmet and saunters over to her with as much courage as he can muster. She takes a step back, eyes wide in disbelief. She’s wondering if she’s finally going mad. There were no hugs, no laughs, no rushing to meet each other. Just an unsure Cooper saying: “We meet again, Doctor Brand.”

He gets no reply. not even a smile. She just stares, wide-eyed; frozen.

Then CASE trundles out and TARS, with his jerky movements, goes over to meet him. They greet, while Cooper keeps his distance, and Brand stays stock-still. She looks over to CASE and TARS and sees them communicating.

Slowly, she edges forward, reassured by CASE and TARS conversing, finally believing Cooper is really there. Still, she doesn’t say anything. She just stands there, staring, hoping he won’t disappear.

“I’m here,” he says, as though reading her mind, reaching out to her.

He doesn’t quite know what to expect from her. But one thing is certain: there are no hugs, no kisses, no tender words, this is no fairy tale. They are just Brand and Cooper.

And she’s there next to him. Standing, staring. But then she raises her fist. It makes contact with Cooper’s jaw.

“What the hell was that for!?” He cries out, massaging his jaw.

“I thought you were dead, you little shit,” says Brand, by way of explanation, finally speaking.

“Aww, you do care,” remarks Coop, trying to joke.

She ignores this. She does not say he left her, that she’s been alone for God knows how long. That they could both have made it. she does not explain that she _really_ just needed to punch something after all that time. She just turns around and continues walking along the dusty surface that is their new home. But she’s pretty sure he knows anyway.

Cooper rolls his eyes and follows her towards the pod-like structures.

“Nice going, Slick,” says TARS in his monotone, trundling along with his jarring movements.

“Shut it TARS, or I’ll lower your humour levels even more.”

Amelia smiles to herself at this. She’s missed him, really; but she’d rather not admit it.

They reach the makeshift station and Brand holds the door for him. He lets it band shut behind him.

_God, this place is a state_ , he thinks, but does not say. Brand motions to a table in one corner, shoves a bowl of something towards him and sits down opposite.

Neither of them look up. They refuse to make eye contact: a sort of non-verbal agreement. Then Coop breaks the silence: “How long have you been here?”

“I don’t know, I gave up counting after a while,” she replies, voice hoarse and strained from lack of use, having only a robot of few words for company this whole time.

Cooper doesn’t know how to reply to this, so he just smiles sympathetically. But to Brand, it’s enough.

They finish up the rest of their meal in silence and go their separate ways, Brand pointing out a small sleeping quarters for Cooper.

***

They continue this routine, in silence, for the first few days, keeping their distance, but both glad to know the other is there.

And then, one night, Cooper wakes up, crying and shaking uncontrollably. And in that instance, it’s Brand who bursts through the door and tries to comfort Cooper in that dark hour. It’s her who convinces him that it wasn’t his fault. She even tries to tell him it was her father’s fault for lying about the equation, which hurts her more. And when he begins to mumble and mutter “stay” over and over, saying “I told myself to stay,” it all comes out.

Now Brand is crying too. Over the whole, shitty idea of being left behind to ‘continue the human race,’ over the death of her father who she hadn’t properly mourned, over the death of Wolf, whose shadow follows her on this planet named after him. She hasn’t cried like this since coming here, having found it pointless as she was all alone and no one would hear or witness her pain.

They sit together like that, in the dark, until their sobs subside. They talk and laugh and then cry some more. Cooper talks about his experience inside Gargantua and the Tesseract, he doesn’t know if he’s going mad or not.

But she believes him.

“Why the fuck weren’t you torn apart, atom, by atom?” She asks mildly, concern etched on her face, along with what resembles the ghost of a smile.

“You sound almost sorry I wasn’t,” he jokes, smiling. “It takes more than gravity to kill me.”

“Clearly.”

It feels good to be able to laugh again, they both think.

*

When their new Sun rises, they greet the new day together. Still Brand and Cooper, but closer now. They both understand what is to be alone, the value of time, and how to make the best out of a shitty situation. They know better than anyone.

And maybe, just maybe, when the first convoy of humans arrive on Edmunds’ planet, they’ll be there to greet them, not as Brand and Cooper, Cooper and Brand, but as Joseph and Amelia, hands entwined. Ready.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading guys x hope you enjoyed and hopefully I’ll be writing more soon xx


End file.
